Silo.



C. M. STAFFORD.

, SILO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10, |9|5 1,261,454, Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

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suo.

1,261,454 APPLICATION'FILED SEPT. l0, |915. Apr. 2, 5 SHEETS-SHEET 2. v'

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SILO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. l0, lgls. 1 ,261,454. Patented Apr'. 2,1918.

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SILO.

APPLICATION FILED sEPT. lo. I9I5.

Patented Apr. 2,1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4- C. IVI. STAFFORD.

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APPLICATION FILED SEPT. l0, 1915- 1,261,454, Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

- 5 SHEETS-SHEET 5- F19 s@ f. //ww um www UNF CHARLES IVI. STAFFORD, OFMINNEAPOIIIS, MINNESOTA.

SILO.

Lesina/i.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES M. STAF- FORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Silos; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Generally stated, my invention has for its object to provide an improved silo, and to such ends, it consists of the novel devicesv and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the construction of wooden silos it has been the most common practice to cut and build together the lumber at the place where the silo is to be erected. In some instances, attempts have been made to cut the lumber to proper dimensions aty the mill or place from which the shipment is made, with a view of facilitating the building of the silos at the place of erection; but such attempts have only slightly reduced the labor and left the work chieliy to be performed at the place of erection. Some attempts have also been made to construct parts or sections of the silo at the mill or place from which the shipment is made, with a view of still further reducing the labor at the lace of erection; but even these attempts ave resulted in only slightly reducing the labor, because the proposed systems of constructing the walls and roof of the silo did not afford a complete or flexible arrangement for first building, and later putting together the component parts or sections of the silo.

My invention provides a construction which makes it possible to make up complete, or nearly complete, all or nearly all of the combined parts of the Sections of the wooden silo, at the mill or place from which the shipment is made, and to later assemble these parts at the place where the silo is to be erected, with great facility and ease, and at small expense. Furthermore, in carrying out my invention, the said sections or component parts of the silo can be not only completed in structure, but also painted, creosoted, or otherwise treated with preserving material at the mill. AThis makes it unnecessary to send painters, or other skilled workmen to the place where the silos are to ybe erected.

'In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical ysection with some parts broken away, showing a silo constructed and erected in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail in section taken through one of the roof joints on the lines m2 m2 of Figs. 1 and 4;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section taken on the same line as the section in Fig. 1, but showing the parts on a larger scale;

Fig. 4 shows the silo partly in plan and partly in horizontal section on the line m4 :r4 of Fig. 1, and with some parts broken away;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line as m5 of Fig. 1, showing the parts on a larger scale;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line m ai of Fig. 4:, some parts being broken away; Y

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view in perspective with some parts sectioned, showing ya portion of the wall and roof of the silo;

Fig. 8 is a plan view with some parts broken away showing one of the roof sections or units;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view in elevation looking at the edge of a portion of the roof section shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. l0 is a fragmentary view in elevation on a larger scale showing a portion of` the wall of the silo with the outer boards of the wall section units or panels removed, and illustrating a slightly modified construction; and

Fig. 11 is a horizontal section taken on the line ai w11 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a detail in horizontal section illustrating a slightly modified construction; and

Fig. 13 is a perspective showing separated elements of the coupling device shown in Fig. 12.

The wall of the silo is approximately cylindrical and is made up of a multiplicity of panels or units that are rectangular, both in face outline and in cross section, and when put together, occupy or extend on chords of the arc of the complete cylindrical wall. The roof is made up of sector shaped panels or units that are preferably also rectangular in cross section. These wall forming and'roof forming panels Or units of a particular silo correspond in number and arrangement, and they are adapted to be put together to form silos of dierent diameter.`

The wall forming panels or units are made of parallel upright timbers 1 (preferably 2X4s or 2X6s) and inside panel boards or sheathing 2, and outside panel boards or sheathing 3, the said panel boards being secured to the said timbers by nails, or otherwise, at the mill. ln the drawings which illustrate the preferred construction, the inside panel boards or sheathing 2 and 3 are matched lumber having tongue and groove joints. inasmuch as it is desirable that access be had to the interior of the panels, at certain points, for the purpose of erection, some of the outside panel boards 3 have the inside flanges of their grooved edges removed, and in lieu of the removed flange, are provided with turn buttons or similark fastenings 4 for detachably holding the overlapped panel boards in position, (see particularly Figs. 7 and 8). Usually, the silo will be erected on a concrete foundation 5 of suitable construction, such, for example, as illustrated in Figpl. When the wall of the silo is to be erected on such a concrete foundation, the lower ends of the wall forming panels are .properly set on the said foundation and the said wall-'forming panels are assembled on the proper circles of the arc of the silo to be erected; and they are rigidly secured together by a novel means, the preferred arrangement of which is best illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Directing attention particularly to these two views, it will lbe noted that the adjacent upright timbers 1 of the wall forming panels are formed with large bolt holes through which nutequipped coupling bolts 6 will thereby itie the adjacent panels together. When the wall forming panels are thus tied together by the bolts 6 on the chords of the arcs of the silo wall, the abutting end surface of the panels will dare outwardly, as best shown in Fig. 5, and the amount of flare will, of course, depend on the diameter of the silo. In some instances, the abutting inner end. portions of the panels may be brought completely together, but preferably a packing and spacing material 7 is interposed between the same. The spaces between the outer flaring end surfaces of the panels are filled by so-called wedge strips 8 that are preferably made wedge-shape in cross'section, but, at any rate, have a wedging action when drawn inward. n The numeral 9 indicates clamping strips or pieces that overlap with and bear against the inner surface l of the abutting'edge portions of the panels and afford bases of reaction for nut-equipped bolts 10 that are passed therethrough and outward through the filling spaces betweenV the abutting ends of the panels and through the wedge strips 8. The nuts of the said bolts 10 are located at their outer ends and are exposed so that they may be tightened or loosened at will. As shown, facing stpips 11 are placed on the bolts 1() between their nuts and the coperatingwedge strips 8. These so-called facing strips 11 constitute no part of the present invention.

In Fig. 1, the numeral 12 indicates metal anchor rods partly embedded in the foundation 5 and suitably anchored to the wall panels. These anchor devices, however, constitute nopart of the present invention, and hence, the construction need not be further considered. Y

ne of the wall panelsV (see Figs. 4 and 6)is formed with vertically spaced' door openings 13; and to this panel, is secured an outwardly projecting upright rectangular shaft 14, preferably made up of wooden sheathing secured together at outer corners and to the said wall panel having the door openings, by means of angle brackets 15. This shaft 14 will preferably be constructed and secured to the said wall panel at the mill and the two shaped ready to be erected as a single element. When desired, 4however, the walls of the said shaft 14 may be shipped in knock-down form and connected to the abrupt wall panels at the place of erection.

The roof, as already indicated, is made up of sector shaped panels corresponding to the wall panels. These roof panels, as preferably constructed, are made up of outwardly converging timbers 16 '(preferably Y2X4s and 2X6s) and upper and lower sheatherably not beveled at their lmeeting ends,

Vand hence, are terminated outward of the axis of the Silo, or, in other words, of the center of the roof structure. The said roof panels are of such length that they project the proper distance beyond the walls of the silo7 and the air spaces within the same are closed at their outer ends by inserted strips 18. rf he roof panels on their upper outer edges are shown ag provided with small wooden cleats 19, and between these cleats, the said roof panels are covered with suitable roofing material20, preferably, one of the commercialV water proof roong lmaterials. The beams or rafters 16 of the roof panels are detachably tied together by nutequipped bolts 21 (see Fig. 2) passed therethrough between the Vupper and lower 125 sheathing boards. The abutting edge surfaces of the roof panels will flare upwardly,

portions of these flaring joint spaces are placed wedge strips 22; and on top of these wedge strips are placed joint channels 23 that overlap the adjacent cleats 19 of the abutting` roof panels and form joints therewith lthat are adapted to shed water. Nutequipped clamping bolts 24 are passed, threaded ends downward, through the joint strips 23 and wedge strips 22, and through clamping bars or pieces 25 that are placed against-'and overlapped with the under surface of the abutting roof panels. The nuts of the bolts 24: are thus brought to the under side of the roof where they may be adjusted from the interior of the silo, while the heads of the said bolts, when drawn tightly against the said joint strips 23 form water tight joints therewith. NVhen the wedge strips 2 are drawn tightly between the flaring edges of vadjacent roof panels, the said panels will be very rigidly and firmly connected together.

When the roof is erected, its sector shaped panels will be alined, one with each of the wall panels. As a feature of the invention, one of the said roof panels is made longer than the others, so that when properly applied, it will project over and form a roof to the upper end of the shaft 111-. lI`he roof panels are anchored to the several wall panels by suitable anchoring devices, which, as shown, are in the form of anchor links 25 suitably connected to the said panels (sce Figs. 1, 3 and 7). By reference particularly to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the said links 26 .are connected to the wall panels by slots `and bolt connections 27, which provides for contraction and expansion of the roof.

To facilitate proper centering of the roof and to form a close joint between the roof panels and wall panels, the former are shown as provided on their under sides with transverse joint strips 28 that engage the upper ends of the respective wall panels.

The space at the apex of the roof is covered by a conical cap 29, of metal or other suitable material.

The wedgestrips 8, it will be noted, do not completely lill the diverging space between the abutting edges of the panels, but on the contrary, leave air spaces which increase the heat insulating quality and decrease the moisture conducting properties of the structure. These air spaces also make it possible in some instances to couple together bolts that connect the panels-together. In fact, it will benoted `that the inner adjacent portions of the abutting panels do not come quite into contact, thereby further reducing the tendency to rot. rlhe wedges thus arranged are capable of movements radially of the bin so that when forced inward by tightening the clamping bolts, they will take up play or increase the tension between the same and the panels. These wedges therefore, aii'ord means for adjusting or tightening the panels independently of hoop structures.

Attention is also calledto the fact that the roof panels which correspond in number `to the circumferentially spaced wall panels, have their joints -arranged on lines vthat radiate from the axis of the bin and intersect the interposed wedge strips or joints between the abutting edges of the panels.

In Figs. 10 and 11 I have illustrated an arrangement in which long nut-'equipped tie bolts 30, slightly offset from the coupling bolts 6, are passed through the timbers 1 of the wall panels and double washers 30, so that the said bolts 6 and 30, in effect, constitute adjustable sectional hoops that completely surround the silo and adapt the same to withstand great lateral or outward pressure. Furthermore, the use of the tie bolts 30 makes it feasible to apply horizontal nailing strips 31 between the upright timbers 1, so that, when desired, vertically extended lap siding or sheathing 3n may be nailed to the interior thereof, or exterior lined with flooring horizontally nailed on, in lieu of the vertical sheathing 3a, previously described.

Preferably, one of the roof panels is provided with a hinged sectionA 16n that serves as a door affording access to the interior of the silo through the roof thereof.

By reference to Figs. 5 and 11, it will be noted that the clamping strips 9 overlap and cover the heads of the rnails used to connect the sheathing to the upright timbers or beams of the panels, protecting them from moisture.

As the panels are rectangular in cross section, no beveling at the joints is required. In fact, the panels are made up like boxes, and, as very short lumber may be used in the construction thereof, they may be made at small cost. No skilled labor, whatever, is required either in the construction of the panels or inthe erection of the silo. No special mill material is used, but, on the contrary, low cost stock lumber is used. In some instances, this lumber may be out to proper dimensions and shipped and even the panels nailed together at the place where the silo is to be erected.

In the modified construction illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13, the upright timbers 1 of the adjacent panels are shown as connected by coupling bolts of novel construction, and which permit coupling and uncoupling of the panels at a point between the flaring end walls ,of the connected panels. These coupling bolts 32 and 33 have threaded ends passed through the said beams 1 equipped with nuts 34e; and at their projecting ends, the one has a pronged head 35, and the other flat head 36. The heads 35 are adapted to embrace the heads 36 and both of said heads are provided with elongated slots into which tapered keys 87 are adapted to be inserted. 'lhese keys, when the'wedge strips 8 are removed, may be reached by persons from the outside of the silo, and hence, the coupling together and the uncoupling of the bolts 32 and 33 may be'easily accomplished.

rEhe term silo is herein used in a very broad and liberal sense and is not, of course, intended as a limitation to structure adapted to contain ensilage; but, on the contrary, is intended to include bins and inclosing structures generally. Y

TWhat l claim is:

l. rin approximately cylindrical polyhedral structure, adapted for silos and other usage, composed of rectangular self-contained independent portable panels assembled with their adj acent vertical edges forming outwardly fla-ring joints, wedge-shaped strips radially adjustable in said joints, and clamping means applied to said panels and wedge strips at the said joints for radially adjusting the strips therein to tighten the jointsV and lock the said elements together, substantially as described.

2. An approximately cylindrical polyhedral structure made up of a plurality of self-contained panels having upright edge timbers and assembled with the abutting surfaces of their edge timbers forming flaring joints, means holding said panels against edgewise separation, wedge strips interposed in the said flaring joints, and means for forcing said wedge strips transversely of said structure to thereby take up play and tighten the joints between adjacent panels.

3. in approximately cylindrical polyhedral structure made up of a plurality of self-contained panels having vertical edge timbers, said panels being assembled with the abutting faces of their edge panels having outwardly flaring joints, means connecting the said panels against edgewise separation circumferentially of the silo, wedge strips seated in said flaring joints, and clamping means for adjusting said wedge strips radially of the silo to tighten the joints and lock the said parts together, substantially as described. Y

4.v An approximately cylindrical silo made up of a multiplicity of circumferentially spaced-boX-like `wall panels provided with timbers at their vertical edges, the said timbers at their vertical edges, the saidY panels being assembled with their edge timbers abutting and forming outwardly flaring joints, wedge strips interposed in said Aflaring joints, bolts connecting the abutting edge timbers of said panels, bolts re-acting against said panels and wedge strips for adjusting thc latter radially of the silo, and clamping strips overlapping the abutting inner edge portions of said panels and held in position by said wedge strip adjusting bolts.

(3. A construction for a silo or similar substantially cylindrical building capable of adjustment for contraction or expansion of circumference, comprising a number of like self contained panel units each having at each side and rigid therewith a comparatively thin vertical member, means rigidly connecting said vertical members to form panels, means passing through said vertical members of adjacent panels and adjustable to draw said panels toward each other while permitting said adjacent panels to occupy the position of chords of the general circle of the cylindrical structure and to vary the meeting angle of such chords, vertical strips, wedge shape in cross section, placed between such vertical members of adjacent panels,

but not extending to the apex of the angle, a vertical facing strip lapping the inner meeting edges of the vertical panel members and adjustable means for connecting the wedge-shaped strip to /said facing stri-p whereby said wedge-shaped strips may. be crowded between adjacent panels. tending to lessen the circumference of the building or withdrawn to permit expansion thereof.

ln testimony whereof l axV my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES M. STAFFORD.

Witnesses:

HARRY l). Krneonn, F. D. MERCHANT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

